Remove 16 unused DEFINE_METHOD identifiers, orphaned methods and classes, and unused metasig signatures by Copilot · Pull Request #121650 · dotnet/runtime

Copilot · 2025-11-14T22:52:18Z

Removes 16 unreferenced DEFINE_METHOD identifiers from src/coreclr/vm/corelib.h that were identified as unused dead code. Also removes the orphaned managed method implementations, classes, and unused metasig signatures that became unreferenced after the DEFINE_METHOD removal.

Removed Identifiers

CLASS

GET_METHOD_BASE - GetMethodBase(RuntimeType, RuntimeMethodHandleInternal)
GET_FIELD_INFO - GetFieldInfo(RuntimeType, IRuntimeFieldInfo)

CRITICAL_HANDLE

RELEASE_HANDLE - ReleaseHandle()
GET_IS_INVALID - get_IsInvalid()
DISPOSE_BOOL - Dispose(bool)
DISPOSE - Dispose()

TASK_1

GET_RESULTONSUCCESS - get_ResultOnSuccess()

RT_TYPE_HANDLE

PVOID_CTOR - .ctor(RuntimeType)

RUNTIME_HELPERS

GET_TAILCALL_INFO - GetTailCallInfo()

ASYNC_HELPERS

UNSAFE_AWAIT_AWAITER_1 - UnsafeAwaitAwaiter<T>()

TIMER_QUEUE / THREAD_POOL (TARGET_BROWSER only)

TIMER_HANDLER - TimerHandler()
BACKGROUND_JOB_HANDLER - BackgroundJobHandler()

STUBHELPERS

KEEP_ALIVE_VIA_CLEANUP_LIST - KeepAliveViaCleanupList()
FMT_CLASS_UPDATE_NATIVE_INTERNAL - FmtClassUpdateNativeInternal()
FMT_CLASS_UPDATE_CLR_INTERNAL - FmtClassUpdateCLRInternal()
LAYOUT_DESTROY_NATIVE_INTERNAL - LayoutDestroyNativeInternal()

Removed Managed Methods

LayoutDestroyNativeInternal method in src/coreclr/System.Private.CoreLib/src/System/StubHelpers.cs - This managed method implementation was removed as it had no remaining callers after its corresponding DEFINE_METHOD macro was deleted from corelib.h.
KeepAliveViaCleanupList method in src/coreclr/System.Private.CoreLib/src/System/StubHelpers.cs - This managed method implementation was removed as it had no remaining callers after its corresponding DEFINE_METHOD macro was deleted from corelib.h.

Removed Managed Classes

KeepAliveCleanupWorkListElement class in src/coreclr/System.Private.CoreLib/src/System/StubHelpers.cs - This class was orphaned after deleting the KeepAliveViaCleanupList method that was its only consumer.

Removed Metasig Signatures

The following unused signature definitions were removed from src/coreclr/vm/metasig.h:

SM(RuntimeType_RuntimeMethodHandleInternal_RetMethodBase, ...)
SM(RuntimeType_IRuntimeFieldInfo_RetFieldInfo, ...)
SM(Obj_PtrByte_RefCleanupWorkListElement_RetVoid, ...)
SM(Obj_PtrByte_RetVoid, ...)
IM(RuntimeType_RetVoid, ...)
SM(RefCleanupWorkListElement_Obj_RetVoid, ...)

SZARRAYHELPER Methods - Preserved

All SZARRAYHELPER methods remain unchanged in their original positions to preserve the ordering invariant required for ILLink. The comment in the code states: "The order of methods here has to match order they are implemented on the interfaces in IEnumerable`1". These methods were initially considered for removal but have been kept to maintain compatibility:

ISREADONLY - get_IsReadOnly()
COPYTO - CopyTo()
INDEXOF - IndexOf()
REMOVEAT - RemoveAt()

All removed identifiers, methods, classes, and signatures verified to have zero references in the CoreCLR codebase.